Latest / The Vikings Tailgate / Vikings Tailgate: Brian Baumgartner's Friendship With Aaron Rodgers, Love For The Packers – GB – Episode 39

Transcript

Vikings Tailgate: Brian Baumgartner's Friendship With Aaron Rodgers, Love For The Packers – GB – Episode 39 · The Vikings Tailgate

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, Vikings fans, Benlever here, I'm so excited to be
0:02
Speaker 1: a new Lifetime member, and so are my kids. They
0:05
Speaker 1: love the tennis, the pickaball the basketball, and of course
0:07
Speaker 1: the yummy cafe. Check them out at Lifetime dot life
0:10
Speaker 1: to find a club nearest you.
0:12
Speaker 2: As the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings and
0:15
Speaker 2: the NFL, Ticketmasters got the best way to take it
0:19
Speaker 2: to the house when it comes to being there live.
0:21
Speaker 2: They're the safest and most convenient marketplace to score fully
0:25
Speaker 2: verified Vikings tickets. So get those touchdown celebrations ready and
0:29
Speaker 2: score your tickets today at ticketmaster dot com slash Vikings.
0:35
Speaker 2: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Vikings Tailgate,
0:38
Speaker 2: brought to you by Ticketmaster, the official ticket marketplace of
0:41
Speaker 2: the Minnesota Vikings. This is an awesome one, everybody. We're
0:46
Speaker 2: three and oh the Packers are two in one and
0:48
Speaker 2: we have an incredible guest to talk border battle. You
0:51
Speaker 2: know him from his role as Kevin on the Office.
0:55
Speaker 2: He also hosts a wildly popular podcast called Off the Beat.
0:59
Speaker 2: It is diehard Packer fan Brian Baumgartner. He's had some
1:04
Speaker 2: really cool experiences working with the Packers. He's been a
1:09
Speaker 2: lifelong fan close friend of Aaron Rodgers. We got into
1:12
Speaker 2: all the game stuff, even talked a little bit about
1:15
Speaker 2: he and John Krasinski playing Madden at lunch during tapings
1:19
Speaker 2: of the Office. I think you're really gonna like it,
1:21
Speaker 2: and hey, do me a favor. He's got a new book.
1:24
Speaker 2: It's called The Night Before Christmas at dunder Mifflin. I
1:28
Speaker 2: love The Office, so I will be buying this for
1:30
Speaker 2: family members who also love The Office. It comes out
1:32
Speaker 2: on November fifth, but you can pre order it right now.
1:35
Speaker 2: He also has two great cookbooks, The Seriously Good Barbecue
1:39
Speaker 2: Cookbook and the Seriously Good Chili Cookbook. So go get
1:43
Speaker 2: that Night Before Christmas book. Enjoy the episode, and have
1:46
Speaker 2: a good weekend. Everybody, Rocket Rocket, I mean all right,
2:02
Speaker 2: everybody joining us to discuss Packer week. Brian Baumgartner from
2:07
Speaker 2: Office Fame. I was trying to decide there are a
2:12
Speaker 2: lot of athletes that are Packer fans, but there aren't
2:15
Speaker 2: necessarily a ton of celebrities synonymous with the Green Bay Packers.
2:19
Speaker 2: I think it's you and Lil Wayne. I think your
2:22
Speaker 2: neck and neck with Lil Wayne.
2:24
Speaker 3: I think that's the first time anyone's used me and
2:27
Speaker 3: Lil Wayne in the same sentence. But I'll take it.
2:30
Speaker 3: How are you doing now? Where are you? Are you
2:32
Speaker 3: in the Twin Cities?
2:34
Speaker 2: We are in Minneapolis? Yep, We're we are.
2:37
Speaker 3: We are lived there. Are you aware of this that
2:39
Speaker 3: I lived there? No? Which part uptown Minneapolis, Okay, for
2:44
Speaker 3: a number of years twenty sixth in Colfax. Then, uh,
2:50
Speaker 3: I bought my first house there really, in Golden Valley.
2:53
Speaker 3: I was there.
2:54
Speaker 2: This right now, if the people are listening to it
2:56
Speaker 2: on the radio, is literally booming out of Golden Okay.
3:02
Speaker 2: Now were you were you born in Wisconsin and then
3:04
Speaker 2: came to Minnesota.
3:05
Speaker 3: No, not at all. I have connections to Minnesota. I
3:09
Speaker 3: have no real connections to the state of Wisconsin. I
3:13
Speaker 3: am originally from the South. I'm from Atlanta, Georgia. But
3:17
Speaker 3: I was I was based in Minneapolis when I was
3:21
Speaker 3: a lifetime ago, a career ago, when I was doing
3:23
Speaker 3: theater around the country. I was based in Minneapolis for
3:27
Speaker 3: a while. Really really hated the weather.
3:32
Speaker 2: Yeah you and everybody I thought you when you started
3:36
Speaker 2: saying really really, it was going one of two directions. Yeah,
3:39
Speaker 2: really really liked the people or really really hated the snow.
3:42
Speaker 2: There's only two.
3:43
Speaker 3: Well there's that's the that's that was the classic misdirection
3:47
Speaker 3: that I was trying to do there. Yeah, I stayed
3:50
Speaker 3: much longer than I thought. I thought I was just
3:52
Speaker 3: going to be there for a year, and ended up
3:54
Speaker 3: I was there almost. I mean, I was based there.
3:56
Speaker 3: I was working kind of around the country, but I
3:58
Speaker 3: was based there for about seven years, and and I did.
4:02
Speaker 3: I did enjoy the people, and it was a great
4:05
Speaker 3: place for me, very supportive of the arts and uh,
4:09
Speaker 3: at least at the time the theaters that I was
4:11
Speaker 3: working on there in other places. But yeah, I mean
4:14
Speaker 3: I was from the South. I couldn't you know. And
4:16
Speaker 3: what you guys, if you're driving around now, what what
4:18
Speaker 3: it's Uh, it's well it's still September, I guess technically,
4:22
Speaker 3: so you're fine right now?
4:24
Speaker 2: Early winter you're is it? That's what I can't do this.
4:29
Speaker 2: I can't do this for like I'm I don't like fall.
4:31
Speaker 2: Everybody's like the leaves. It's just slow death towards freezing.
4:35
Speaker 2: I have no interest in it. September is early winter,
4:38
Speaker 2: Christmas is midwinter. June is end of winter.
4:42
Speaker 3: Wow. Going to June. And actually I did a show
4:46
Speaker 3: one time there and it did snow in June. That
4:49
Speaker 3: is true. You can look that up. It happened.
4:52
Speaker 2: I absolutely believe that.
4:53
Speaker 3: And here's the thing that I realized again once I left,
4:57
Speaker 3: to all of you people that are that are still
4:59
Speaker 3: living there, life doesn't have to be that hard. It
5:04
Speaker 3: doesn't like getting dressed to go get your mail. I'm
5:09
Speaker 3: in my boxer shorts here. Man, if I got to
5:12
Speaker 3: go outside and get the paper or the mail. No
5:15
Speaker 3: one gets a paper anymore, let's be honest. But anyway, yeah,
5:18
Speaker 3: you don't have to put on layers.
5:21
Speaker 2: I remember when I first moved to Los Angeles. I'd
5:24
Speaker 2: never lived anywhere other. I'd been to some other place,
5:27
Speaker 2: but I've never lived anywhere other. And I moved in January.
5:30
Speaker 2: I went out to LA and I was there, and
5:33
Speaker 2: I came back the following year in the winter time.
5:35
Speaker 2: And it is one of those things. You know, you
5:37
Speaker 2: quit drinking soda and then three years later you have
5:40
Speaker 2: one and you're like, oh, I didn't realize this was
5:42
Speaker 2: poison my whole life. That's what the Minnesotans take such
5:47
Speaker 2: pride and their ability to live through winter. But there
5:50
Speaker 2: is that vibe where you're like I gotta tell you, man,
5:53
Speaker 2: it's not a sign of weakness to like to be
5:55
Speaker 2: a warm boy. It's really nice.
5:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's true. You guys must be feeling pretty
6:02
Speaker 3: warm in your hearts. Though right now, I was.
6:04
Speaker 2: Just gonna say you like we are where are we based?
6:07
Speaker 2: We are based literally on Cloud nine right now? I
6:10
Speaker 2: think there is But you have to be two. This
6:12
Speaker 2: is a you like I I thought originally.
6:16
Speaker 3: Don't compare us, don't don't no, don't compare us. You
6:19
Speaker 3: can't compare us. You're there were expectations. Now have things
6:25
Speaker 3: gone well for the Green Bay Packers so far? Given
6:28
Speaker 3: the circumstances, you're trying to tell me you shouldn't be
6:31
Speaker 3: on Cloud nine with two Malik Willis wins like you
6:36
Speaker 3: guys should be throwing parades.
6:37
Speaker 2: Matt Lahouer is so good it's crazy.
6:40
Speaker 3: Matt Lafleur is very good. I mean that's that. The
6:44
Speaker 3: game plans for the last two games have been outstanding.
6:47
Speaker 3: Willis has played better than anyone could have expected. But see,
6:52
Speaker 3: I'm more curious about you guys because now I had
6:56
Speaker 3: a couple of takes about this year, and because there
7:00
Speaker 3: was a third team in the North that people were discussing.
7:04
Speaker 3: As you all know. I'm sure you know the song, right,
7:07
Speaker 3: the Bears still suck. The Bears still suck, and the
7:10
Speaker 3: Bears still suck. And I proclaimed it publicly before the year.
7:15
Speaker 3: I did not see an enormous turnaround for the Bears
7:21
Speaker 3: this season. I was very right there. But I will
7:24
Speaker 3: admit I thought you guys were going to be terrible too.
7:27
Speaker 3: I really did. And not because you don't have players,
7:31
Speaker 3: and not because you don't have excellent coaches. I just
7:34
Speaker 3: thought it was going to take a year or so.
7:36
Speaker 3: And I mean, I feel like that's what everybody expected.
7:40
Speaker 3: Sam has been playing well, out of his mind, out
7:44
Speaker 3: of his mind. Hopefully he's fine. I mean the reports
7:47
Speaker 3: he looks fine. The report was weird.
7:49
Speaker 2: It's a weird stressed about it.
7:51
Speaker 3: I found the report weird. You're just going to stress
7:56
Speaker 3: you out. I don't remember a report quite like that before.
8:00
Speaker 3: Like we're going in to test it and the results
8:03
Speaker 3: were he's fine, He's gonna play this week. I don't know.
8:06
Speaker 3: It just seemed bizarre, like like like that there's not
8:11
Speaker 3: even gonna be a questionable next to his name, Yet
8:13
Speaker 3: he went in and got an MRI. This just seems
8:16
Speaker 3: weird to me. No, is it my wrong? I'm not.
8:19
Speaker 2: I didn't even the interesting thing, because you're right, you
8:21
Speaker 2: can't compare us. You can't compare us as fan bases.
8:24
Speaker 2: And uh, I think I'm not gonna just throw darts.
8:28
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take some here. I think you guys are
8:31
Speaker 2: the epitome of football privilege. You, I mean, the trophy
8:35
Speaker 2: is named after you. Your dad owns the bank. You
8:39
Speaker 2: guys are the king. Like you crash your car and
8:41
Speaker 2: you get home and mom already has a new Maserati
8:44
Speaker 2: in the drive. You've done it quarterback after quarterback after quarterback.
8:47
Speaker 2: Viking fans are damages, you know how. I've said this
8:51
Speaker 2: on the show already once this year, but it's my
8:53
Speaker 2: most fascinating insight. Cleveland Brown fans they are like, it's
8:58
Speaker 2: never gonna work, but they believe it. Viking fans are like,
9:02
Speaker 2: it's never gonna work, and then you give them a
9:05
Speaker 2: sliver of hope and we're like, but what if it works?
9:08
Speaker 2: And then they torture themselves.
9:10
Speaker 3: Is that? Like, now, I'm not being disparaging again. I
9:12
Speaker 3: lived there and stayed there for a long time. Isn't
9:15
Speaker 3: that the people of Minnesota, though, like I feel like
9:17
Speaker 3: you have just defined the people like it's fine, it's fine,
9:22
Speaker 3: like the weather is fine, like we've got great springs.
9:27
Speaker 3: I don't know, like there is a little bit of that.
9:30
Speaker 3: And by the way, when I said don't compare us,
9:32
Speaker 3: I was really talking about this year in terms of
9:34
Speaker 3: the expectation. I mean, I feel like.
9:36
Speaker 2: I'm taking it way more serious than that.
9:38
Speaker 3: I will, well, well, I feel like you. I feel
9:42
Speaker 3: like it's a great position to be in, by the way,
9:44
Speaker 3: and I think that the packers were there last year
9:48
Speaker 3: where this like, oh, there's gonna be a year of transition, right,
9:53
Speaker 3: Like there's gonna be a year of of of down
9:57
Speaker 3: of not rebuild per se, but like slight rebuild or
10:01
Speaker 3: reload even and you know, it felt like the wheels
10:06
Speaker 3: just came off the wagon for you guys. And you know, look,
10:12
Speaker 3: it's going well so far. I mean, I don't want
10:15
Speaker 3: people mad at me, but I didn't believe it until
10:17
Speaker 3: week three.
10:17
Speaker 2: Let it rip. Here's the thing.
10:19
Speaker 3: I didn't believe it until week three because they like
10:21
Speaker 3: if you talk, I don't know.
10:22
Speaker 2: There's people in this state who won't believe it until
10:24
Speaker 2: week nine. You know how good they'll have you like
10:26
Speaker 2: people are going to be mad at me. They're half
10:28
Speaker 2: the Viking fans are like preach Brian preach.
10:31
Speaker 3: So so I didn't believe it after week two either,
10:34
Speaker 3: But I mean, look, you guys, not only did you
10:38
Speaker 3: play really you looked great in all facets. Flores has
10:42
Speaker 3: got you guys playing so strong you're off. It's I mean,
10:47
Speaker 3: it's terrifying to me in a way. I'll be honest
10:49
Speaker 3: with you, And now I'm trying to flip it to
10:52
Speaker 3: make you guys like, to make us the underdog.
10:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're trying. That's what I understand. I've been gas
10:56
Speaker 2: lit before. I know what it feels like to be
10:58
Speaker 2: pumped up before disappointment. Don't do this to me. Here's
11:02
Speaker 2: what I think it is. But I think you're gonna
11:03
Speaker 2: recognize this a little bit because you guys do. Despite
11:06
Speaker 2: what our fan base likes to purport, your organizational structure
11:12
Speaker 2: is strong. I think it has its weak points, like
11:15
Speaker 2: when you need an owner to come in and go
11:17
Speaker 2: get me that guy so I can win a super Bowl.
11:19
Speaker 3: That's exactly right.
11:20
Speaker 2: But it's strong, and I think what's happening. I think
11:23
Speaker 2: what people missed with the Minnesota Vikings. And here's the deal, man.
11:27
Speaker 2: I went into this season the same as you. I thought,
11:31
Speaker 2: if we have three of these young guys pop up,
11:34
Speaker 2: if Jordan Addison, Dallas Turner and Ivan Pace are studs,
11:38
Speaker 2: and then you have all that cap room, this like
11:41
Speaker 2: you're on the path rookie quarterback. Here we go. It's
11:44
Speaker 2: you're walking into a really really cool situation. Yeah, I think,
11:49
Speaker 2: And so we still might be in that mode. Who
11:51
Speaker 2: knows what happens. It's only three games. But what I
11:54
Speaker 2: think a lot of people missed was the health of
11:57
Speaker 2: the organization. And this is not just me being a homer.
12:00
Speaker 2: I think, like you've been an NFL fan for a
12:02
Speaker 2: really long time. So you remember the name Eddie de Bartelow. Yes,
12:06
Speaker 2: So back before the salary cap Eddie de Bartolo, and
12:09
Speaker 2: back before some trouble, Eddie de Bartelow was the premier
12:13
Speaker 2: owner in the league. Every player got their own room,
12:16
Speaker 2: The food was all great. Robert Kraft learned how to
12:20
Speaker 2: run an organization. It was all treating players well. And
12:25
Speaker 2: the Vikings every year, when you see those ends of
12:28
Speaker 2: the year grades for cafeteria and hell step, they're a
12:32
Speaker 2: A A A. They didn't hit the top of all
12:35
Speaker 2: that stuff. And so I think when you have an
12:37
Speaker 2: ownership group that is intent on winning, which isn't always
12:41
Speaker 2: the case in pro sports, and you have an infrastructure
12:45
Speaker 2: that is getting grades like that, you've just you've built
12:49
Speaker 2: this universe where if you are intentional in your actions
12:53
Speaker 2: and people perform anything as possible. So I think what
12:57
Speaker 2: people were overlooking is, yes, they lost Kirk, but with
13:00
Speaker 2: some of that money, they got these players and they
13:02
Speaker 2: have the right coaches and the right support that it's
13:04
Speaker 2: almost an incubator for surprising people. Again, I don't know
13:08
Speaker 2: where it'll go, but that's what I feel like is happening.
13:11
Speaker 3: I mean, what you're saying makes a ton of sense.
13:13
Speaker 3: And you see that happen across the league, and you
13:17
Speaker 3: see teams where it feels like it's there and exists,
13:21
Speaker 3: and then you see teams that you think, how can
13:23
Speaker 3: they not get this thing right? Like what you're talking about, Like,
13:27
Speaker 3: how can they not just like see that this is
13:30
Speaker 3: an important step? And you know, look, I I I
13:35
Speaker 3: am not being a homer either. I mean, if love
13:38
Speaker 3: is back, you guys should lose this week. I mean
13:41
Speaker 3: you should lose this week because because now everyone's telling
13:45
Speaker 3: you how good you are. I mean, this is the NFL, man,
13:49
Speaker 3: It just happens, and it doesn't matter. Culture helps. Culture helps,
13:53
Speaker 3: for sure, But like you, you are primed to take
13:57
Speaker 3: a beating. I'm just telling you, this.
13:59
Speaker 2: Is that confidence.
14:00
Speaker 3: No, it's not confident, and no, it's not gonna call
14:02
Speaker 3: it confidence.
14:03
Speaker 2: I'm gonna call it confidence.
14:04
Speaker 3: No, and I'm gonna and I'm gonna argue that with
14:07
Speaker 3: you because it's really not. I think that again. Look,
14:11
Speaker 3: if there's one thing that I know is true, you
14:15
Speaker 3: can say that it's good, you can say that it's bad.
14:19
Speaker 3: Uh As from a fan perspective, and I know from
14:23
Speaker 3: some players perspective, it's incredibly frustrating. The Packers are the
14:30
Speaker 3: most conservative team in the league when it comes to injuries,
14:39
Speaker 3: and that this is why it has been shocking to me.
14:43
Speaker 3: I mean it, what it feels like to me is
14:46
Speaker 3: Jordan Love feels one hundred percent and no one will
14:49
Speaker 3: believe it because otherwise, like the fact that they were
14:52
Speaker 3: still farting around week one, I was like, what are
14:55
Speaker 3: you talking about? Like they're saying what were they saying
14:58
Speaker 3: four to six weeks? I'm like, it's six weeks, Like
15:00
Speaker 3: they just won't let them come back. I mean, this
15:03
Speaker 3: is true forever. It's like, let's not again. Is it good?
15:08
Speaker 3: Is it bad? I don't know. It's very frustrating that, like,
15:11
Speaker 3: we're not going to leverage long term success for this
15:14
Speaker 3: short term thing. And I do think that the fact
15:17
Speaker 3: that they've won these two games, they probably feel like
15:20
Speaker 3: they've stolen too.
15:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's you're playing with some serious house money.
15:25
Speaker 3: Yeah. And so it's like, all right, do we do
15:28
Speaker 3: do we trot it out one more time? Let's get
15:30
Speaker 3: him one hundred percent healthy and and and let's wait
15:34
Speaker 3: and if we lose, uh, we're still two and two.
15:36
Speaker 2: Like I don't know, But doesn't it now feel like
15:39
Speaker 2: it because that was my thought as well? But doesn't
15:41
Speaker 2: it now feel like this interesting intersection of moments Like
15:45
Speaker 2: had the Vikings been one and two coming in and
15:47
Speaker 2: you guys were two and one, you go, yeah, trot
15:49
Speaker 2: them out. But all of a sudden, you have this
15:51
Speaker 2: upstart team that nobody expected, Packers who've overcome the Lions.
15:56
Speaker 2: You know, they had a tough loss to Tampa Bay's like,
15:58
Speaker 2: there's just this moment that I know, I think you're right.
16:01
Speaker 2: I don't think we're gonna see him because of everything
16:03
Speaker 2: we've seen historically. But I think it gets a lot
16:06
Speaker 2: harder now that you're like, no, these teams both kind
16:09
Speaker 2: of matter right now, and this game not only in
16:13
Speaker 2: the win loss column. It has a little bit of
16:15
Speaker 2: springboard ability to it. That's how it feels. I want
16:18
Speaker 2: him to play. That's here's the thing, especially now that, especially
16:21
Speaker 2: now that you've said that thing about how we're gonna
16:23
Speaker 2: get throttled if he does. Brian Flores is doing this.
16:26
Speaker 3: Say throttled, you're gonna Did I say throttle?
16:31
Speaker 2: I don't know, but I'm happy to put words in
16:33
Speaker 2: your mouth. I think just a big banner like you
16:38
Speaker 2: just there's just a picture of you outside the locker
16:40
Speaker 2: room this weekend wearing that hat that says you're about
16:44
Speaker 2: to get throttled.
16:44
Speaker 3: You're about to walk by and.
16:47
Speaker 2: Put their hand on it like it's Rudy's number as
16:49
Speaker 2: they go by it.
16:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, well see, I don't think they need that if
16:52
Speaker 3: Love is playing, because I I mean, this is where
16:54
Speaker 3: I do think we're similar. Like you guys have got
16:57
Speaker 3: to feel great right now and the Packers running out
17:02
Speaker 3: of the tunnel being two and one and Love coming
17:06
Speaker 3: back to play whatever happens, they have to feel great
17:11
Speaker 3: pre game like, they've got to feel like and now
17:14
Speaker 3: he's back, and now we're gonna do what we do,
17:18
Speaker 3: which is kick your ass.
17:20
Speaker 2: Do you feel I feel like not to God?
17:23
Speaker 3: The Bear suck? Can we talk about the Bears suck?
17:26
Speaker 2: And I'm ready? Can I tell you something else?
17:28
Speaker 3: God?
17:28
Speaker 2: I'm ready to hate the Lions. H oh yeah, so
17:32
Speaker 2: drilled into us to not hate the Lions for so long.
17:35
Speaker 2: And I have friends who are Lions fans and they're
17:36
Speaker 2: all so likable. And Dan Campbell is like this weird, muscly,
17:41
Speaker 2: cowardly lion looking thing that you can't help but love.
17:44
Speaker 2: And I but I'm trying to help me find something
17:48
Speaker 2: to connect to to hate. I can't. I haven't been
17:51
Speaker 2: able to figure it. It's easy for me to dislike
17:53
Speaker 2: the Bears. That's if I listen to one more guy,
17:56
Speaker 2: one more five foot ten guy that looked like he
17:59
Speaker 2: played baseball in college. Tell me about how purple is
18:02
Speaker 2: a bad color for a unit like Chicago's easy to hate.
18:05
Speaker 2: You're a gray city. I don't want to spend any
18:08
Speaker 2: time everybody thinks you're amazing. You're not. It's loud and
18:11
Speaker 2: gray and you can't even swim in the lake most
18:15
Speaker 2: of the time.
18:15
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go with you there. I mean, I mean,
18:18
Speaker 3: I'm gonna let sorry, I'm gonna let you speak for that.
18:20
Speaker 3: I'm not you're interested in the city of Chicago hating me.
18:25
Speaker 3: I but the Bears suck and there's no there's really
18:28
Speaker 3: no two ways about it. And it does give me well,
18:33
Speaker 3: It's sort of like you know, if you fall, if
18:37
Speaker 3: you meeting the Vikings fall this year, it does bring
18:42
Speaker 3: greater pleasure because you did, you did have hope at
18:46
Speaker 3: one point in time. And that's the thing is that
18:48
Speaker 3: I kept asking the Bears fans like you, you're you're
18:52
Speaker 3: hopeful now right, and just the horrible to build them up. Yeah,
18:57
Speaker 3: you think you have a chance here now? And look,
19:01
Speaker 3: I am involved in this big uh.
19:03
Speaker 2: You know.
19:05
Speaker 3: We have teams, you know, like a fantasy draft. I
19:08
Speaker 3: hate fantasy, by the way. It makes me absolutely crazy
19:11
Speaker 3: because I want to I want to root for the teams.
19:13
Speaker 3: And yes, I just like.
19:15
Speaker 2: Too many teams to be good at fantasy.
19:17
Speaker 3: Yeah. There there was like a rule for me which
19:21
Speaker 3: was like, oh, you know, I'm not gonna mention names
19:24
Speaker 3: specifically but like anyone who was like drafting for us,
19:28
Speaker 3: we had like a war room and they wanted to
19:30
Speaker 3: draft in one. I'm like you guys, no, anyway, they
19:33
Speaker 3: picked something bears related that was not good for us.
19:37
Speaker 3: And I have just been railing them all all year
19:42
Speaker 3: so far, and so it will give me joy if
19:45
Speaker 3: and when you guys fail, and if you don't, you
19:46
Speaker 3: know what, you'll be a good story because the people
19:49
Speaker 3: involved in your organization, I don't I don't hate them.
19:53
Speaker 3: There's there's there's only uh Kevin and uh Flores. I
20:01
Speaker 3: used one first name and one second name. It's fine
20:04
Speaker 3: in Hollywood.
20:05
Speaker 2: Thomas, Who the hell is that? Who's Thomas? Doesn't matter?
20:09
Speaker 3: Just keep going. Yeah, there's nothing, there's nothing to hate.
20:15
Speaker 3: There's nothing, there's something to hate.
20:17
Speaker 2: I will tell you it's hard to hate the Green
20:19
Speaker 2: Bay Packers organization because it would just take forever to
20:22
Speaker 2: learn who all the owners are.
20:25
Speaker 3: So your point about that is very astute from a
20:29
Speaker 3: from an outsider, because that is an internal frustration at times,
20:33
Speaker 3: you know, I think, particularly the last decade.
20:36
Speaker 2: They're in the end of the Aaron Rodgers run.
20:38
Speaker 3: And they're the organization is so strong, and it's what
20:43
Speaker 3: you love about them, if you love football and the
20:45
Speaker 3: small town and the environment and the fans and and
20:48
Speaker 3: you know all of that stuff. But yeah, it would
20:51
Speaker 3: be nice sometime to be like, oh, you know what
20:54
Speaker 3: we need Christian McCaffrey and just just going and paying
20:59
Speaker 3: for that one piece, which then you you just like
21:04
Speaker 3: everyone knows, like, uh oh, now now we're in trouble.
21:08
Speaker 3: Now we're in trouble.
21:09
Speaker 2: The moment the Niners got mccaff for, everybody went, if
21:11
Speaker 2: he's healthy, we have a multi year problem on our hands. Yes,
21:16
Speaker 2: you're uh, you're a big Madden guy, right.
21:19
Speaker 3: I mean I used to be. Yeah, I don't really.
21:23
Speaker 3: I mean I'm an adult now, so I don't play
21:26
Speaker 3: a lot. But no, John Krasinski and I we played
21:29
Speaker 3: every single day at lunch when when we were working
21:34
Speaker 3: at the office, literally every day.
21:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, those get pretty intense.
21:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, they would get pretty intense. He's from Boston, he
21:42
Speaker 3: would tell he would probably the Patriots was his go
21:45
Speaker 3: to team. Weirdly mine that like he couldn't beat. And
21:49
Speaker 3: then if we both played those teams, it was just
21:51
Speaker 3: a problem. The Chargers because Antonio Gates and the seam
21:56
Speaker 3: was just like an unstoppable play bojackech Mobile. I just
22:02
Speaker 3: Gates like I would scream out as it was going
22:05
Speaker 3: like Gates play and unless he had like everybody in
22:08
Speaker 3: the middle, he would just cut run up the middle
22:11
Speaker 3: and catch one over his shoulder. That was fun. But
22:15
Speaker 3: usually what we did was and I didn't know this
22:17
Speaker 3: was a thing until fairly recently. I was telling somebody
22:21
Speaker 3: is we would take our finger on the toggle button
22:24
Speaker 3: and it was like you're playing like a slot machine,
22:27
Speaker 3: and we would just and it would like with all
22:30
Speaker 3: the all the teams, and we'd stop and that's who
22:32
Speaker 3: you had to play that day. Oh it's a randomized Yeah,
22:35
Speaker 3: well yeah, just you know, just you know, instead of
22:37
Speaker 3: like going scrolling through like you're basically like super speed
22:40
Speaker 3: scrolling through where you couldn't see it, and then you
22:42
Speaker 3: would just stop. And again this is a number of
22:44
Speaker 3: years ago. It would be like, you know, one of
22:46
Speaker 3: us would get the Jags and the other would get
22:48
Speaker 3: the Patriots and be like, all right, well that's not fair,
22:52
Speaker 3: yeah exactly. Yeah, just like children, it.
22:55
Speaker 2: Had to be nice for you. And I'm not trying
22:56
Speaker 2: to bag on the Packers fan base, because I genuinely
22:59
Speaker 2: I've said this on the show before. I don't take
23:00
Speaker 2: joy in other fan bases being miserable. That's not a
23:03
Speaker 2: fun thing for me. Oh I I, well that's you
23:06
Speaker 2: get to be that person. Yeah, but I will tell
23:09
Speaker 2: you that it has to be odd because it's hard
23:13
Speaker 2: to find a more privileged fan base than the Packers
23:16
Speaker 2: unless you get the modern Patriots. So you, I mean
23:19
Speaker 2: you're playing, you and John are playing and he's a
23:21
Speaker 2: Patriots fan at a time when that's the one person
23:25
Speaker 2: that to you is like you're the underdog, he's the man,
23:29
Speaker 2: You're the overlooked team. He gets everything. That's like that
23:33
Speaker 2: had to have been a unique environment.
23:35
Speaker 3: I guess that's true. It's you know there there have
23:38
Speaker 3: been sporadic and I know I can't speak to you.
23:41
Speaker 2: This is the thing where you tell me that you
23:42
Speaker 2: had to start the Magic Man for like eleven years
23:45
Speaker 2: and that was hard in between having the trophy named
23:49
Speaker 2: after your coach and winning a few more? Did you
23:52
Speaker 2: have a for the eighties hard Bryan?
23:58
Speaker 3: You know what's funny is I think did you.
23:59
Speaker 2: Have a hard time? While bart Starr was just barely
24:02
Speaker 2: in his fifties right before Brett Favre turned twenty two,
24:06
Speaker 2: what year.
24:07
Speaker 3: Was Morton Anderson. Wait, no, was he why with the
24:11
Speaker 3: Falcons at that time? What year was the Falcons Vikings?
24:15
Speaker 2: Ninety eight?
24:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's when I was there. That's when I was there.
24:18
Speaker 2: So I you were from Minnesota during ninety eight.
24:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, rooting for the Falcons because I'm from Atlanta. Yeah,
24:24
Speaker 3: so it was like it was just like double agony
24:26
Speaker 3: for you guys.
24:27
Speaker 2: We have these iconic moments of like loss and pain.
24:31
Speaker 2: The blairwash field goal right after the Minnesota a miracle. God,
24:38
Speaker 2: I hate the grin on your face so much.
24:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, that was awf No, that was awful.
24:43
Speaker 2: That was you said that, like the way you watch
24:46
Speaker 2: like your enemy spill pie on their lap?
24:49
Speaker 3: Who was that? Who was that? Against the Sea?
24:51
Speaker 1: Oh?
24:52
Speaker 3: The Seahawks, your whole familys is gonna hate me? Who
24:55
Speaker 3: do I hate worse than the Vikings? Because I don't
24:58
Speaker 3: hate the Vikings. I pity the Viking. Just see your
25:01
Speaker 3: Seahawks and the and the Niners of course like I
25:05
Speaker 3: so of course I'm rooting against the Seahawks.
25:07
Speaker 2: The amount, And I think that's the thing that drives
25:09
Speaker 2: Viking fans the craziest is it's like that we're not
25:13
Speaker 2: thinking about you We're in the playoffs against the Niners,
25:16
Speaker 2: and you're like, kick their ass. Vikings, you're in the
25:19
Speaker 2: playoffs against the Niners, are like drowned them, drowned them
25:22
Speaker 2: in front of their kids. Like it's the fact that
25:25
Speaker 2: you just can look past it.
25:27
Speaker 3: Oh, you would root for the Niners over the Packers.
25:31
Speaker 2: One million percent. And let me tell you something, I
25:35
Speaker 2: think this rivalry missed them. Like the best thing that
25:39
Speaker 2: could have ever happened for it was that FARV team,
25:43
Speaker 2: the Vikings FARV team winning a Super Bowl. Now, you
25:45
Speaker 2: guys would have hated that, but it would have just
25:48
Speaker 2: created this unique moment in this rivalry's history. And now
25:53
Speaker 2: we would finally have a title and it would be
25:55
Speaker 2: with your icon. I mean, Rogers became who he became.
25:58
Speaker 2: But you're right, I think a lot. You know, you
26:00
Speaker 2: guys are on your path and we're over here on
26:02
Speaker 2: our path kind of looking at your path. I think
26:04
Speaker 2: we missed an awesome moment with that.
26:06
Speaker 3: I don't disagree with you on that, I know. I look,
26:11
Speaker 3: I love storylines that would have been that would have
26:14
Speaker 3: been epic, That would have been epic.
26:17
Speaker 2: I've got two questions. One is where I was going
26:20
Speaker 2: is and you said the Seahawks one, which I remember
26:22
Speaker 2: that playoff game. But what's what's your moment where we
26:25
Speaker 2: go ninety eight?
26:26
Speaker 3: Ah, what is.
26:27
Speaker 2: Your moment that?
26:28
Speaker 3: Oh that Seahawks game.
26:29
Speaker 2: It's the Seahawks game with the on side kick and
26:32
Speaker 2: the disaster at the end. So that's that's your tough moment.
26:34
Speaker 2: And then oh for sure, I mean that was that
26:37
Speaker 2: more so than the far overtime one. I'll make you
26:41
Speaker 2: like feel better because you can hate me for this.
26:45
Speaker 2: I had tickets, it was in Seattle, was going to
26:50
Speaker 2: go and decided, hmmm, I'll wait for the super Bowl.
26:57
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that makes me want to drive you
27:01
Speaker 2: down with my car. And Jay, what's the record for
27:05
Speaker 2: least likable things said on the.
27:07
Speaker 3: Show that Now? I said that to be intentionally like you.
27:15
Speaker 2: No, I just thought I maybe and maybe I just
27:19
Speaker 2: went for the parade. I don't even know where you
27:21
Speaker 2: go to the super Bowl.
27:22
Speaker 3: You have to hear it. You have to hear it.
27:24
Speaker 3: Was actually because I thought the Seattle was favored then,
27:28
Speaker 3: and so what I thought was, well, so I'm being now,
27:31
Speaker 3: I'm being honest. Okay, I said that to be funny.
27:35
Speaker 3: I thought they might lose and if they lose, me
27:39
Speaker 3: going there to Seattle will be just miserable. So if
27:44
Speaker 3: they win, I'll go to the super Bowl. Like so
27:46
Speaker 3: that that in truth was it, But it comes across
27:49
Speaker 3: it's like, no, I didn't go because I was going
27:51
Speaker 3: to go the next week, which is a narrative I
27:54
Speaker 3: sort of enjoy as well. But the truth was no,
27:58
Speaker 3: and that that's the work. That's the worst.
28:00
Speaker 2: So we're also we've been talking about a lot of parallels.
28:03
Speaker 2: I think the other question kind of fits in here
28:06
Speaker 2: is we're both on this same path of we had
28:09
Speaker 2: an established quarterback like you guys had, interestingly, as polarizing
28:16
Speaker 2: as he can be and as off putting as his
28:18
Speaker 2: smirks are. Before Patrick Mahomes came in, I think there
28:23
Speaker 2: was an argument to be made that while Brady was
28:25
Speaker 2: winning all the Super Bowls, Aaron Rodgers the most talented
28:27
Speaker 2: guy to ever throw a football. I like, I thought
28:31
Speaker 2: he had you know, Dan Marino's arms and you know
28:34
Speaker 2: Steve Young's legs. I just thought he was phenomenal.
28:38
Speaker 3: Yes, well, I don't disagree with you on that, and
28:41
Speaker 3: I and I will tell you that my you know,
28:46
Speaker 3: before we go too much further, that a huge part
28:49
Speaker 3: of my fandom of the Packers is he and I
28:53
Speaker 3: are very good friends.
28:54
Speaker 2: Well, then I will say even meaner stuff and see
28:58
Speaker 2: if I can get you to quit the show. You know,
29:01
Speaker 2: I think he's immensely special. Right and then, but he's
29:05
Speaker 2: been there for a long time and that situation was
29:08
Speaker 2: waning and a change was coming the Vikings. The reason
29:11
Speaker 2: I set up who he was is because I don't
29:13
Speaker 2: want to pretend like he and Kirk Cousins are the
29:16
Speaker 2: same or have been the same caliber of player.
29:19
Speaker 3: But right, but I get what you're saying.
29:21
Speaker 2: Yes, Kirk held down the spot. He was a very
29:24
Speaker 2: very and he was the identity of the team. And
29:26
Speaker 2: now it's kind of interesting to think about who these
29:29
Speaker 2: two teams were a few years ago and now they're
29:33
Speaker 2: meeting in this moment where they both have these coaches
29:35
Speaker 2: who went lover old quarterback. No hard feelings, but I'm
29:40
Speaker 2: ready to do my thing with a guy that and like,
29:43
Speaker 2: I think that's what you're seeing with Matt Lafleur. I
29:45
Speaker 2: think you're seeing a system that fits the guy that
29:49
Speaker 2: he wants to throw the ball. I think you're seeing
29:51
Speaker 2: that with Kevin O'Connell. So it's really, really interesting, you're
29:54
Speaker 2: such close friends with Rogers, Like, how do you celebrate that?
29:58
Speaker 2: Are you? Were you bummed to see? Are you happy
30:01
Speaker 2: that it's kind of this year working out on both ends?
30:04
Speaker 2: Like how do you process that connect?
30:06
Speaker 3: No, I want to ask you a question first and
30:07
Speaker 3: then I'll answer the question. Is Sam Darnold your guy?
30:12
Speaker 3: Or is JJ your guy?
30:13
Speaker 2: So it depends who you ask. But if you're asking me,
30:16
Speaker 2: I am a believer and Brian I could not have
30:20
Speaker 2: less education or more ability to parse my way through
30:23
Speaker 2: an answer about something like this. But that's not going
30:26
Speaker 2: to stop me. Im a huge believer in what I
30:33
Speaker 2: call the NFL's QB math equation. Okay, there's this stat
30:38
Speaker 2: out there that over the last twenty twenty five years
30:40
Speaker 2: since the inception of the salary cap, our listeners are like,
30:43
Speaker 2: we've heard it before. They're turning me off because they're
30:45
Speaker 2: so bored with me talking about this. But there's two
30:48
Speaker 2: quarterbacks who won a Super Bowl while earning more than
30:51
Speaker 2: twelve percent of the team's salary cap. It was Tom
30:54
Speaker 2: Brady one year and it was Patrick Mahomes last year.
30:58
Speaker 2: Everybody else has been below that, And when you look
31:00
Speaker 2: at a lot of great quarterbacks, they often win. Aaron
31:04
Speaker 2: Rodgers is on his rookie deal, Russell Wilson is on
31:06
Speaker 2: his rookie deal. Ben Roethlisberger wins on his rookie deal,
31:08
Speaker 2: and then he wins on a decent next deal. And
31:10
Speaker 2: so you have rookies, journeymen, and then Tom Brady who
31:14
Speaker 2: took cheap deals to That's just how the NFL has existed.
31:19
Speaker 2: I'm not saying it is going to exist that way forever,
31:23
Speaker 2: but uniquely, the quarterback position has become so high paid.
31:27
Speaker 2: I only ever think there are three, four or five
31:31
Speaker 2: like to me. To give up that percentage of your
31:34
Speaker 2: salary cap, you need to be Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning,
31:39
Speaker 2: Tom Brady, like you have to be a first ballad
31:42
Speaker 2: Hall of Famer. And so I don't know what Sam
31:46
Speaker 2: Darnold is going to be, But when we switched and
31:49
Speaker 2: I heard how much we were paying him, and I
31:51
Speaker 2: know the weapons that we are going to get with him,
31:53
Speaker 2: I got really, really really excited. And so that is
31:57
Speaker 2: how I kind of answered, I don't know what McCarthy
32:00
Speaker 2: is going to be, but these fans that are racing
32:03
Speaker 2: to have somebody be a superstar, what I say is
32:06
Speaker 2: if things work out for this team. We should have
32:09
Speaker 2: three or four years of low priced quarterback play with
32:13
Speaker 2: the best coaches, two of the best coordinators, one's ahead
32:16
Speaker 2: coach wins a decordinator in charges like and seventy five
32:20
Speaker 2: million dollars in cap space. That's how you win a
32:23
Speaker 2: Super Bowl. So I love Darnold right now and I
32:27
Speaker 2: just don't want to pay a ton anytime soon.
32:29
Speaker 3: Yeah that's fair. Well, look, I will forever root for Aaron,
32:37
Speaker 3: and I mean, what what a story it could be.
32:41
Speaker 3: I will say this, I'm a little I'm on a
32:44
Speaker 3: little bit of a high from last week because I
32:48
Speaker 3: felt like if you watch that game and look, as
32:53
Speaker 3: someone said, well the Patriots, this is the this is
32:56
Speaker 3: what we thought was going to happen before the year started.
32:58
Speaker 3: But the Patriots were playing well. I mean, the Patriots
33:02
Speaker 3: were playing inspired and together on defense. Aaron looked like
33:10
Speaker 3: three years ago, like or yeah, three years ago, three
33:15
Speaker 3: four years ago. I mean, you know, in terms of
33:17
Speaker 3: the calendar, and that was really exciting to see. I
33:22
Speaker 3: hope the best, wish the best for him. I also
33:25
Speaker 3: incidentally wish the best for Kirk. I mean, you know,
33:29
Speaker 3: he's in a really interesting situation. Down there too. I mean,
33:34
Speaker 3: to your point about the money, I don't know how
33:37
Speaker 3: that all works itself out. But they have the guys
33:42
Speaker 3: that they have in those other positions are young and
33:47
Speaker 3: seemingly talented, and I would love for him, for him
33:53
Speaker 3: and and for the Falcons to to have a little
33:55
Speaker 3: run this year as well.
33:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really interesting, just like they are too. I
34:00
Speaker 2: think the Rogers injury last year dampened it a little bit.
34:04
Speaker 2: And I'm with you. I don't think people whatever they're
34:06
Speaker 2: over under was before the season. It was something stupid
34:09
Speaker 2: like eight and a half games. I was like, you
34:11
Speaker 2: want the best long shot in the league, it's the
34:12
Speaker 2: New York jets a based on his talent, but also
34:16
Speaker 2: based on the you know, Rocky Mountain National Park sized
34:21
Speaker 2: chip that he's able to carry on his shoulder.
34:25
Speaker 3: But he doesn't make it a secret that he likes
34:27
Speaker 3: to play and prove people wrong. No, and now you
34:30
Speaker 3: have a situation where yeah, exactly.
34:34
Speaker 2: So, the two things that I don't want to see
34:37
Speaker 2: is Aaron Rodgers in the Super Bowl and the Packers
34:39
Speaker 2: in the Super Bowl. And yet my brain goes, I
34:43
Speaker 2: just I watched how you guys handled the Farv thing,
34:46
Speaker 2: and I want to watch that. I want to watch
34:48
Speaker 2: what would happen It almost be, it would almost be.
34:53
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna do the metaphor because I don't want
34:55
Speaker 2: to get that cut from the episode, but I think
35:00
Speaker 2: it'd be really interesting to watch. And I'm with you.
35:02
Speaker 2: I think the Kirk thing is to anytime a quarterback
35:06
Speaker 2: walks into a place, the same thing when we thought
35:09
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson was gonna play in Pittsburgh. It's when a
35:13
Speaker 2: quarterback walks in and everybody is looking at it a
35:16
Speaker 2: certain it's just very obvious these guys are in a
35:20
Speaker 2: I can prove it or I cannot prove it, and
35:22
Speaker 2: we all get to watch it year. And I'm with you. Storylines, man,
35:26
Speaker 2: that is a lot. If all of a sudden they're
35:29
Speaker 2: in the AFC Championship and you guys are in the
35:31
Speaker 2: NFC Championship, that's there's gonna be a lot of people
35:35
Speaker 2: crossing their fingers for that to happen.
35:37
Speaker 3: It's fascinating. And again, I the Packers' schedule is really difficult.
35:42
Speaker 3: If you as a as a Viking, span do you
35:44
Speaker 3: root against the Jets this year?
35:46
Speaker 2: It's literally what I've been dealing with I've been trying
35:49
Speaker 2: to decide what's funnier. Is it funnier for Aaron Rodgers
35:54
Speaker 2: to win a Super Bowl? Will you guys suck? Or
35:57
Speaker 2: is it funnier for you guys to win and Aaron
35:59
Speaker 2: Rodgers suck? And I don't know. I've really spent time
36:02
Speaker 2: on that, and I don't have an understanding of what's
36:05
Speaker 2: funnier interesting.
36:07
Speaker 3: I think the Bills are.
36:08
Speaker 2: They're going to be very difficult. I don't think anyone
36:10
Speaker 2: saw that coming. They are going to be very difficult.
36:13
Speaker 3: Correct, and obviously the chiefs will you know. I mean, look,
36:18
Speaker 3: they haven't started off like Gangbusters and they're three to zero,
36:24
Speaker 3: so but I mean, look, the Jets have that roster
36:29
Speaker 3: that if he is playing well, their schedule is such
36:33
Speaker 3: that well, they don't have a hard schedule. The Packers
36:36
Speaker 3: have a heart schedule, by the way, the Jets is
36:42
Speaker 3: not as challenging. I mean they have the schedule makers. Well,
36:47
Speaker 3: they wanted Aaron Rodgers on national television and games that
36:51
Speaker 3: were happening only at once, so this has made things
36:53
Speaker 3: complicated for the Jets. But it's really fun. Here's what
36:58
Speaker 3: I think you can argue as Vikings fans, as whatever,
37:02
Speaker 3: you can hate him, how much more fun is the
37:06
Speaker 3: NFL when he's in it and playing well? I mean,
37:10
Speaker 3: that was my thought the other night.
37:12
Speaker 4: Undeniable, Like you have to appreciate even if you're getting
37:17
Speaker 4: your heart ripped out by him as you're watching, as
37:21
Speaker 4: I'm sure so many those Patriot fans were.
37:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just really fun.
37:27
Speaker 2: It's so funny for it to be such a different
37:29
Speaker 2: sort of fun from like, because I think you couldn't
37:32
Speaker 2: find a person in the league when Brett Farv was
37:34
Speaker 2: in his prime who wasn't like, God, I just really
37:36
Speaker 2: like to have that energy on my team. Here's the thing.
37:41
Speaker 2: If you want to watch mediocre football in hopes that
37:44
Speaker 2: your team wins a bunch, great, good for you. Enjoy it.
37:49
Speaker 2: I'm someone that like like, I'm not. I'm a massive
37:53
Speaker 2: appreciator of Lebron switching sports here, but I also really
37:59
Speaker 2: liked to root again him, and if a team got
38:02
Speaker 2: to the finals and there was no Lebron on the
38:03
Speaker 2: other side, it became a little blase. So having these
38:08
Speaker 2: elite players that you can appreciate and then being able
38:11
Speaker 2: to attach some stakes even if you don't like him,
38:13
Speaker 2: even if I don't enjoy Aaron Rodgers, and for example,
38:17
Speaker 2: I want to, I don't know, burn my TV when
38:20
Speaker 2: that part of Pat McAfee comes on, uh I just
38:23
Speaker 2: as an example. It's still but that's still an energy,
38:26
Speaker 2: and that's still an emotion that you like. I turned
38:29
Speaker 2: on that Thursday night game, going what's gonna happen? And
38:32
Speaker 2: so I think you're right, it's better, it's better with
38:34
Speaker 2: him in the league.
38:35
Speaker 3: Well, look, I and I think I think it was Nike.
38:38
Speaker 3: Wasn't it Nike with the the Lebron and Kobe puppets?
38:43
Speaker 3: Was it that Nike back in the day, all built
38:47
Speaker 3: under the assumption that the two of them would meet
38:51
Speaker 3: in the finals, and then it like never happened because
38:54
Speaker 3: you know, and and look, there's a lot of great
38:58
Speaker 3: Spurs fans out there, but like everybody wanted to see
39:02
Speaker 3: that thing, right, I mean.
39:06
Speaker 2: It's like when you see those maps of who everybody's
39:08
Speaker 2: rooting for and the whole country is one color except
39:12
Speaker 2: for like half of one state.
39:16
Speaker 3: Right exactly. That That is what I mean. Here's here's
39:21
Speaker 3: something that I think we can both get behind.
39:23
Speaker 2: Though, Okay, i'd like to I'd like to end on
39:25
Speaker 2: something some togetherness.
39:27
Speaker 3: I called this at the beginning of the year. If this,
39:30
Speaker 3: if this could happen. But the fact that Justin Fields
39:35
Speaker 3: is three and zero with the Steelers.
39:37
Speaker 2: Oh, isn't that good? Isn't it just delicious?
39:40
Speaker 3: It's just it's so good because that all of those
39:45
Speaker 3: all of those fans have to be thinking, did we
39:50
Speaker 3: did we mess up again? Now I'm not saying they did,
39:52
Speaker 3: but I'm just I was saying one must have inner
39:55
Speaker 3: doubts like did we did we make.
40:00
Speaker 2: Advice for our mutual fan base. This here's what I
40:03
Speaker 2: would tell you, because I think you and I both
40:05
Speaker 2: know that the if you're playing the odds game, the
40:08
Speaker 2: odds that Caleb Williams figures it out and is a
40:12
Speaker 2: terror for other teams is higher than it is not, right, Like,
40:16
Speaker 2: I anticipate that dude figuring it out. So I think
40:19
Speaker 2: our fan bases should be reveling in this moment where
40:24
Speaker 2: Justin Fields is three and azo. Eat this up like
40:27
Speaker 2: it's oatmeal covered in brown sugar. This is a nice moment.
40:31
Speaker 2: And I'm with you, just the doubt. That's like before
40:34
Speaker 2: they go on their message board to type something mean,
40:36
Speaker 2: they're like, ah, we couldn't. There's no way, right, there's
40:39
Speaker 2: no way that that it's this. There's no way.
40:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I will say this. You know you were
40:49
Speaker 3: talking before about being organizationally strong. I mean, this is
40:55
Speaker 3: like the most obvious thing whatever in the world. But
41:00
Speaker 3: if you're drafted in the top five, you're going to
41:04
Speaker 3: a team and in some ways, Caleb because of the
41:08
Speaker 3: draft or the trade the year before, like Chicago wasn't
41:12
Speaker 3: that bad, like they weren't the Panthers or whatever. It's
41:16
Speaker 3: so hard, though, to go to a bad team that
41:19
Speaker 3: is organizationally weak and win. And the fact that Feels
41:24
Speaker 3: is doing this I think speaks and I'm just really
41:27
Speaker 3: giving an unsolicited shout out to Mike Tomlin and the Steelers.
41:32
Speaker 2: That's our guy. Unbelievable.
41:34
Speaker 3: I mean, the fact that he goes there and they're
41:36
Speaker 3: not playing cupcakes and that they're just doing He's doing
41:42
Speaker 3: what he needs to do to win and looking a
41:44
Speaker 3: little better every week. I'm not smart enough to know
41:48
Speaker 3: there are people much smarter than me, and no quarterback
41:51
Speaker 3: play much better than me to be able to make
41:53
Speaker 3: that sort of a call that you're talking about, Like
41:56
Speaker 3: I'm sure Caleb is ceiling as much higher or whatever.
42:00
Speaker 3: But to see him go and have that success there, Well,
42:04
Speaker 3: it doesn't speak great for the Bears.
42:06
Speaker 2: It's a nice time. It's a nice time for all
42:08
Speaker 2: us non Bagas fans. Hey, we really appreciate you doing this, Brian.
42:11
Speaker 2: Give me a last thing I'm going to ask from you.
42:13
Speaker 2: Give me a prediction for the game Sunday.
42:17
Speaker 3: I mean, it's really tough to quote an old fan
42:21
Speaker 3: favorite for you Vikings R E L A X. Whatever
42:26
Speaker 3: happens for whichever team loses. I think everybody's going to
42:32
Speaker 3: be just fine, at least after this game. I think
42:36
Speaker 3: if Love plays, I mean, it's just one of those
42:40
Speaker 3: classic cases that I think the more tape you have
42:43
Speaker 3: on willis the harder it's going to be to be
42:45
Speaker 3: able to execute the kind of game plan that they
42:48
Speaker 3: have the last couple of weeks. Though it was an
42:51
Speaker 3: impressive win by them this week. But I think if
42:55
Speaker 3: Love plays the Packers cover did you want to do?
43:00
Speaker 3: I need to give you a.
43:01
Speaker 2: I think I want I mean I would have taken that,
43:03
Speaker 2: but now that you've offered a score, yeah, I'd like
43:05
Speaker 2: to hear you. Let's put it right next to that
43:07
Speaker 2: little poster of whatever. That phrase that I can't remember
43:10
Speaker 2: you said that I thought was so funny earlyer.
43:12
Speaker 3: Though, I think they I think they.
43:14
Speaker 2: You think they're gonna win by You think they're gonna
43:16
Speaker 2: win by three or more. Okay, well, i'm gonna go.
43:20
Speaker 2: I'm gonna throw a score out there. I'm gonna go.
43:22
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say Halfley's defense is good, Flores's defense is good.
43:27
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say Packers fourteen. I'm gonna go Vikings one
43:31
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty eight, somewhere in that range somewhere?
43:36
Speaker 3: Is this Is this your call every week?
43:38
Speaker 2: Is this my call every week? Really, it's my call
43:41
Speaker 2: every week. I refuse. I refuse to make serious predictions.
43:44
Speaker 2: I believe way too much in superstition. I have an
43:48
Speaker 2: ongoing vis Oh dude, Brian, I am. I am a disaster.
43:54
Speaker 2: I will y Oh yeah, I like.
43:56
Speaker 3: Is that your lucky hat this year?
43:58
Speaker 2: No, this is the that he's listening right now, that
44:01
Speaker 2: Mike Hearris made me wear because they used the video
44:03
Speaker 2: and he had something not nice to say about my hair.
44:06
Speaker 3: So okay, but that's a Viking ship, right, It.
44:10
Speaker 2: Is a Viking ship. It's actually a cool hat. It's
44:12
Speaker 2: the kind of it's a it's a minimalist logo.
44:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do think it's a cool hat.
44:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I I I'm full on lunatic man. I'm not.
44:21
Speaker 2: It's I'll probably watch a game standing in the same
44:23
Speaker 2: place I watch it last week. The sort of stuff
44:26
Speaker 2: that when I do get eventually divorced will probably be
44:29
Speaker 2: mentioned in the papers. That's the sort of sports superstition
44:32
Speaker 2: I have, and I'm working on it. You're the best
44:39
Speaker 2: to thank you.
44:39
Speaker 3: At least you know that you can impact the players
44:44
Speaker 3: on the field from wherever you are and whatever you're doing.
44:47
Speaker 3: At least you know that.
44:48
Speaker 2: Thank you. And I think we we are gonna have
44:52
Speaker 2: the collective We as a team are going to have
44:55
Speaker 2: a good season, right, good luck. Thanks again to Brian
44:58
Speaker 2: Baumgartner for joining the show. Hey in a reminder of
45:01
Speaker 2: check out the Vikings Tailgate podcast or the Vikings podcast Network,
45:06
Speaker 2: anywhere you download stuff, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, any of
45:11
Speaker 2: your favorite social media channels. Check it out and hey,
45:15
Speaker 2: well you're there, Give us a like and subscribe. Also,
45:18
Speaker 2: huge shout out to Ticketmaster, the official ticket marketplace of
45:21
Speaker 2: the Minnesota Vikings, for helping make this show happen. We
45:24
Speaker 2: will see you all again next week. Join Pa at
45:28
Speaker 2: the Coon Rapids Buffalo Wild Wings this Friday from nine
45:31
Speaker 2: to noon for Friday Football Feast presented by Coors Light.
45:35
Speaker 2: Enjoy food and drink specials and a chance to win
45:38
Speaker 2: Viking tickets and more. Visit vikings dot com slash bww
45:43
Speaker 2: for full schedule and details